Go to page

Go to page

Considering France was attacked and invaded not once or twice but three times from German launcing pads in west bank of Rhine in 75 years (1871-1945) with devastating consequences , why France did not occupy and annex Rhinelands permenantly (like Ferdinand Foch wished in 1918) at the end of war in 1945 ? Russians occupied East Prussia , Polish territory was shifted to Oder towards westwards , Silesia was taken over by Czechs and Polish goverment. Why France in post war truma did not gain any buffer zone territory for security ?

Considering France was attacked and invaded not once or twice but three times from German launcing pads in west bank of Rhine in 75 years (1871-1945) with devastating consequences , why France did not occupy and annex Rhinelands permenantly (like Ferdinand Foch wished in 1918) at the end of war in 1945 ? Russians occupied East Prussia , Polish territory was shifted to Oder towards westwards , Silesia was taken over by Czechs and Polish goverment. Why France in post war truma did not gain any buffer zone territory for security ?

Well, the Germans were completely defeated and the French in a weakened state. I'm sure they originally had a predatory plan for Germany but once they realized the Soviet threat was imminent, a strong Western Germany was in the interest of the French as a buffer. The French were also creating nuclear weapons. They were probably planning on using them in Western Germany as a last recourse if conventional warfare failed. In the end a strong Germany and reconciliation between France and Germany proved key to both countries economic success as well as Europe in general. Cooperation is better than competition most of the time. The EU or the US (depending on the strength of the Euro or dollar) has the highest GDP on Earth.

The prevailing philosophy of 1945 was to avoid a future war. Everyone understood by then that the Treaty of Versailles had been a major cause of WW2. No one was interested in another 1919-style solution. Wasn't the French occupation of the Saarland similar to the US, British, and Soviet occupations of Germany that continued throughout the Cold War? Still an effective way of controlling Germany but also a different solution than Versailles - and far more successful.

I believe the US and Britain officially ended the occupation much earlier than 1959. However, they kept troops there into the 1980s ostensibly to defend against the Soviet threat. East Germany became a Communist state that also had Soviet troops.

rFrance was alloted the French zone of occupation in 1945 along with the American Russian and British zones of occupation.. which eventually merged to form Western Germany while the Soviets founded the DDR in East Germany and Berlin.
In 1955 the Soviets agreed to give up tteir claims to occupied Austria so the a new state of Austria was born in that year.

Historum

Founded in 2006, Historum is a history forum dedicated to history discussions and historical events. Our community welcomes everyone from around the world to discuss world history, historical periods, and themes in history - military history, archaeology, arts and culture, and history in books and movies.